How to Start a Successful Travel Blog From Scratch

For most people, traveling is a hobby. They have traveled so far and so often that they are aware of every local tradition and norms along with all the sneaky tricks required to save up money while making the most of every trip. So, if you have a treasure trove of such knowledge and would like to share it with others, you should start a travel blog!

Starting a traveling blog is not an arduous process. It is more like a step-by-step process where if you follow the right steps, you will have a detailed blog at the end of the entire process. For your convenience, we have prepared this quick guide that will steer you in the right direction. So, let us get started.

Choose a name

As opposed to the contrary, choosing a name is one of the most difficult things to do because you cannot just go with any name that pops into your mind. You need to approach this step with a clear strategy in your mind. Otherwise, you will end up with something that will be difficult to remember. You can follow these suggestions for a better name:

• Do not include symbols, hyphen or numbers in your name.

• Shun overused words avoid including repetitive words such as nomadic, wandering, and adventurous, etc.

• Choose a long-lasting name or something that will still be relevant in thirty years’ time.

Sign up for hosting

Hosting is a way of sponsoring your blog on the internet. It may sound complicated; however, just like starting a blog, it is a step-by-step process. At the end of this process, you will have successfully created a space to host your pictures, content, and other related files on the internet.

There are different hosting options with the price tag varying between the cheapest to the expensive spectrum. Starting out, BlueHost would be a better choice since it is not only affordable but it also comes with simple settings.

To set up hosting, follow these steps:

• Open Bluehost and click ‘Get Started Now.’

• They offer three plans and you will have to select the one that will suit your needs. Since you will be starting out, it will be better to go with the cheapest option.

• Once the dues are cleared, you will be required to enter a domain name. If the name is unique, you can go with it. Otherwise, you will have to think of another name.

You can add additional features such as Domain Privacy Protection, etc. to make your blog a bit more interesting.

Install WordPress

BlueHost is merely a place where you will create a domain name and WordPress is the place that will run your blog. For this purpose, you need to install and run WordPress; however, your chosen hosting option can make it considerably easy for you.

With BlueHost, it is common knowledge that you will be signing up for a self-hosted account as opposed to the free one. Setting up WordPress with BlueHost is extremely easy since everything is already done and you will only be required to click a single button which you can find in the BlueHost setting.

Once WP is installed, you can go to its dashboard and create a username along with a password. From there, start building a traveling website.

Pick a professional theme

Now, you need a theme that will reflect the nature of your website. Since a great theme reflects great design, you will need to carefully analyze this step as a theme is the only thing that convinces people to further explore a web page.

With WordPress, you will have two options, i.e. you can buy a theme from external developers or you can explore the free options available on WordPress. The free options are just as good as the paid ones. However, if you are looking for recommendations, we would suggest that you go after the premium themes. This is because paid themes come with support, offer additional features, and provide flexibility along with uniqueness.

Install necessary plugins

Plugins are third-party elements that add additional features to your website. Most of the plugins are free and come with continuous updates but there are also a few that you have to pay for in order to use them.

To use a plugin, you will need to download it separately and install it from your WordPress dashboard. You can do this by visiting the ‘Plugin’ section in the WP admin setting. You can start by downloading the following popular plugins:

• Yoast SEO: This plugin optimizes content for search engines. Also, it integrates Google Analytics and Sitemaps.
• Akismet: It safeguards the content against spammers that are leaving not-so-good comments.
• WP Rocket: It is a caching plugin that optimizes the website for speed.
• Easy Social Share Buttons: This allows your posts to be instantly shared on social media.
• Imagify: It optimizes the images from the media library for quick loading.

Create the main pages

Before you create your first post, you will want to create separate web pages such as About Us, Contact Information, and Privacy Pages, etc. to add personality to your travel blog. Of course, you can skip this step; however, we recommend that you create the necessary pages to let the readers know more about the person uploading the traveling posts.

You can add new pages by visiting the WP admin area. From there, look up the ‘Pages’ section on the left-hand side, click it and then, hit ‘Add New.’ Doing this will allow you to add as many web pages as you like.

Write your first post

If you have always wanted to narrate your experience from the Val Thorens ski holiday, now would be the best time to do it.

Moving on, take all the time you need to craft well-thought pieces and do not forget to include images from your traveling stash.

Long-form content is loved by the search engines so try to keep the length at minimum 1200 words per post. Also, create a posting schedule and stick to it but remember that quality trumps quantity. So, if you want to start out slow with only one post per week, keep the quality high and stick with HD images.

Conclusion

With this step, we conclude our quick guide. Sticking to the above-mentioned steps would allow you to create a basic website where you can write content, upload pictures, and share your experience with other travelers.

Starting a traveling blog may seem a bit daunting at first but, trust us; this will make it more fun. With a blog on the side, you will not only be traveling for yourself; instead, you will be traveling for countless of people who regularly follow your blog for tips.